


An Unlikely Pair

by Schattenmalerin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Diego and Five having a little argument, Five never disappeared on them, Klaus and Five are super close to each other, Klaus just being his usual funny self, Klaus speaks a bit german, M/M, Sexual innuendos, the other siblings are also there, the siblings are around 14-16 years old or so, they all teenagers here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-11-25 22:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18172142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schattenmalerin/pseuds/Schattenmalerin
Summary: TUA in their teenager years or: Klaus is the only one Five wants to be close to and the other siblings are just confused as fuck.Chapter 1:During an interview after a mission Diego thinks it's a good idea to lean his arm onto Five's shoulder.Klaus does this every time, so there should be no problem, right?Wrong!





	1. A Shoulder to Lean on

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to be a collection of short stories of Klaus and Five through the perspective of their siblings.  
> Basic Idea: Five doesn't want any physical contact to his siblings and his 'personal space' from anyone - except for Klaus. The other siblings are clearly confused about that.
> 
> Inspiration for this was the short flashback in episode 1 where the siblings stand in front of the bank after their successful mission and Klaus just put his arm on Five's shoulder, leaning on him, as if this was completely normal for them. Thinking back then how Five is most of the times so dismissive and aloof to anyone, my brain just thought, maybe he's only so 'sociable' with Klaus and well, here we are ^^  
> So this can be read as platonic brother bond (for now), but might be going more into soft Five/Klaus fluff later. Just so we're all on the same page here, guys ;)

_**Diego's POV** _

Diego should have known this was a stupid idea. Hell, a terrible idea even.

Everyone of their siblings knew better than to fuck with Five. Everyone knew he liked his personal space, just like everyone knew how he could react if someone overstepped that precisely defined line without his clear permission.

Still, it bugged him, ever since he noticed _it_. And if something bugged him, well… He never had been one to hold back.

So as the six siblings were about to gather in front of the building like they always did after a mission, after fighting off bank robbers and rescuing hostages, Diego hurried to be faster than Klaus this time. Which wasn't that hard per se, since he and Ben were dawdling most of the times after a mission, always the last ones to join them outside for the press pictures.

Allison had already positioned herself for the cameras, looking as self-confident and charming as ever.  
Behind her was Luther, head held high and upright stance. _Number One, The Leader, hm?_

Diego held back both his mockery and slight anger and increased his speed, as he heard Klaus and Ben beside him, seeing Klaus moving toward his usual spot.

 _Not today_ , Diego thought, before sneakily slipping in front of Klaus, robbing him of his place next to Five.  
Said sibling threw him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised in that typical condescending way, before Diego saw him exchange a glance with Klaus who seemed slightly surprised, but shrugged his shoulders and took position next to Diego, hands adjusting his dark hair, before pulling his lips up into one of those alluring smiles.  
Ben looked as lost and uncomfortable as ever, clothes completely blood-stained, and he only relaxed after Klaus patted his shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

The press started to ask some questions, Diego heard Luther - _of course, who else?_ \- answer some of them with the upmost professionalism before the journalists started to get their cameras ready for a few photos.

Diego lifted his left arm, slightly and carefully, suddenly not so confident in his plan anymore.  
_So how exactly does Klaus always carry this out?_

It always looked so easy when Klaus did this, as if it came natural to him to place his arm on Five's shoulder, as if it belonged there to begin with.  
He shifted his gaze stealthily to Five next to him, observing the boy's face in consideration. He had put a smile on his face, but everyone who was long enough around him knew instantly it wasn't a real one. It was too perfect, too put-on for the camera. The arrogance and pride in his posture though couldn't be more real.

The sound of cameras clicking pulled him out of his thoughts and _well, fuck it, how bad can this go, right?_

Diego finally gathered enough confidence to place his arm on top of Five's shoulder, leaning on it in an attempt to copy Klaus' nonchalant postures for the cameras - just to hear a short whoosh and losing the balance as Five blinked away almost immediately.  
He stumbled, almost fell over if it wouldn't be for a helping hand on his right arm, keeping him from toppling over.

Amused laughter reached his ears and Diego felt his face heating up, embarrassment and anger boiling in him. Luther's disapproving glance was ignored, instead he focused on letting himself be pulled back into position.

"Need a bit of support here, Di?", Klaus snickered close to his ear, clearly teasing him and Diego just murmured under his breath, yanking his arm out of Klaus' grip.

"S-s-shut up, Klaus," he retorts embarrassed, raising his eyes up to Klaus in defiance.  
Klaus just laughed, lopsided grin on his lips - and arm leaning on Five's shoulder effortlessly.

_The fuck?!_

***

"What the fuck was that about?"

They were in the bus on their way back to the Hargreeves' Mansion and Diego was still pretty pissed about the humiliation Five put him through during the interview. So he let himself fall into the empty seat next to Five, giving him an angered glare.

Five sighed, clearly annoyed at his presence - as always.

"What do you want, Two?" He didn't even bother looking up from his notepad he was scribbling some equations down.

"An explanation," Diego demanded, getting even more pissed at being ignored by this little shit, "and an apology."

Another sigh, no less irritated than the one before.  
"I apologize," Five begins in a matter-of-fact voice, blue eyes piercing at him sharply, "for every behavior of mine which your little birdbrain might have misinterpreted as an insult. Now if you'll excuse me, there are a lot of equations wanting to be solved, so why don't you go back and play with your little knives?"

Diego blushed furiously, finger pointing at Five. "D-don't talk to me like that!"

"What is your fucking problem, Diego?"

Diego snorts. _Seriously?_ "What is _yours_? You embarrassed me back there. What the fuck was that about, hm?"

"Yeah, what _was_ that about?", Five also got louder now, tip of the pencil cutting almost through the paper in suppressed anger. "Didn't I make myself clear about _personal space_?"

By now their heated conversation had reached the other siblings, Luther looking ready to stand up and put them both in their place, Allison just frowning at their dispute and even Klaus and Ben, who'd laughed their ass off - definitely at one of Klaus' dumb jokes - stopped in their tracks, eying them from the other side of the bus.

Diego didn't care, focus lying on Five completely.  
"Personal space, my ass! What upsets you so much about me putting my arm on your shoulder? Klaus does it _every time_ after a mission and-"

" _And_ as far as I can evaluate, _you're_ neither 5'8'' tall, wearing dark eyeliner nor talking to the dead, so what's your point here?"

God, Diego had almost forgotten how unnerving and tiresome a discussion with Five could be.  
"Yeah, I'm not your precious Klaus, still-"

"H-he's not-" Five's eyes flickered around the bus frantically, own voice hushed now, agitated, " _fuck_ , he's not _my_ precious Klaus, y-you idiot!"  
Diego was too focused on the insult to notice the faint blush dusting around Five's nose.

"Who you calling an idiot, _idiot_?"

"The one who's answering an insult with the same insult, birdbrain."

"Woah woah woah, what's going on here, tigers?" Klaus whistled out of nowhere, standing beside Diego's seat. Then a big grin appeared on his face as he swung himself onto the seat behind them, arms leaning on the end of the backrest, head propped on top to look down at both of them. "Oh… _oh_ , I get it. Trying to find out who can come up with the better insults, huh? I can help you with that, there's no one quite like me if it comes to creative insults. Even have some German ones at ha-"

"Nobody cares," Diego interrupted, not really happy about Klaus' appearance and big mouth.

"Oh, you hurt my feelings, brother dear."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm outta here." Diego pulled himself up, throwing a last grumpy glance toward Five - who returned it with the same amount of annoyance - before starting to walk to the front of the bus, where Allison and Luther had seated themselves.

"Hey, where you going?" Klaus exclaimed with feigned indignation. "Aww, Diego, you're such a … _eine miesepetrige Spaßbremse_! _Yes_ … yes yes yes, that's what you are! Wanna know what that means? Oh, I _bet_ you wanna! Well, if you ask reeeeally nice, then-"

"Nope, not gonna happen," Diego answered over his back, before ignoring them both and placing himself next to Allison and Luther, arms crossed discontented.

But of course he couldn't just get his peace for once.

"What was that all about back there?"

Diego shrugged curtly, only giving Allison a short side glance. "Why don't you ask Five?"

"Because Five is…" Allison searched for any adequate words, before shaking her head, soft curls falling into her face. "Well, Five's Five, so …?"

"So that's pretty self-explaining, don't you think?"

"No, I don't thi-"

"What do you _want_ from me, Allison?" His tone was sharp, still angered at the whole situation, fingers now pulling out one of his knives, playing around with it in irritation.  
Most times it helped him to calm down.  
This time only with moderate success.

"Hey, don't talk to her that way!"

Diego rolled his eyes. Luther playing the _knight in shining armor_ , of fucking course, why not? Why not start an argument with another sibling? Hell, what was going wrong today?!

Allison being Allison seemed to notice the tense atmosphere, therefore she placed a hand on Luther's arm, soothingly, as if to hold him back from whatever he wanted to do.  
He didn't give a fuck. Number One might be strong as fuck, but much slower than himself. If he wanted a fight, Diego would be ready to outfight him with agility and speed.  
But apparently Allison had him far more under control than any knife on his throat ever could, because Luther let himself fall back on his seat again, tense muscles relaxing. The warning glare remained, though.

"It's about the thing during the interview, right?"

Diego just huffed, but Allison wasn't even awaiting an answer, instead continuing in a lecturing tone: "Well, it was stupid of you, Diego. You know how much Five values his … _personal space_."

"Now that's just bullshit," Diego snorted back, "Klaus always has his arm on Five's shoulder during every interview, so don't tell me something about his personal space."

"And because Klaus is allowed to you just thought of… what, doing the same?"

"Yeah, why not? I don't … pfff, I just don't get him, okay? Making a drama out of such small things…"  
Even in his own ears his voice sounded deflecting and defensive, a tone Allison also recognized.

"I can't believe it," she whispered out, soft giggles escaping her mouth. "You're jealous."

Diego stared at her, dumbfounded and confused, blinking a few times, before frowning at her.  
"I-I-I'm not jealous. _I'm_ not, okay?" he emphasized again, only to hear another series of giggles leaving her throat.

"Oh, forget I even talked to you about that." And the second time on this ride he stood up from his current seat to search for another one, letting himself fall on a seat in a quieter corner, diagonally across from Ben, who was so absorbed in one of his books though that he didn't notice his presence. Or maybe he did, but instinctively understood his need for silence and privacy right now. _Who knows? It's never easy to tell with Ben._

Diego let his gaze wander around, automatically locking onto Klaus, who'd taken his former seat next to Five. The smaller one seemed to continue to be in a bad mood due to their confrontation, a never-ending scowl plastered on his face. Still, Diego noticed the hint of a smile gracing his lips as Klaus scooted closer to him in order to point at something on Five's notepad, mumbling some words he could not hear from his position.

Allison was wrong.  
He wasn't jealous, not really at least. It wasn't as if he wanted them to be distant with each other or them to rather hang out with him than with each other. It was just … there was a strange feeling of bother watching both of them, watching Allison and Luther being all close to each other. A tug in his chest, bringing him to pull his arms around himself in a vulnerable posture.  
And Diego didn't understand how he could feel so lonely in a bus full of people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Ben would definitely hug the shit out of Diego right after seeing him like this, so don't worry! ^^  
> But let's be honest guys, Diego just needs a hug but doesn't know how to ask for it. He's not really jealous, more sad that they have such a close bond and Diego feels like he hasn't one with any of his siblings.  
> After watching the show I always pictured that the one person Diego is closest with is Klaus (cause Luther and Allison are more to themselves, Five … well, Five is Five and just came back from the Apocalypse, Ben is dead and Vanya isn't even considered his 'sibling' for most of the times. But Diego and Klaus have such amazing chemistry, especially in scenes with just the two of them).  
> So I just wondered who exactly Diego would have been close to in his childhood, if Klaus would rather spent more time with Five than with Diego. So these thoughts led to that kind of ending there (it was planned different, but changed somewhere in the last third of the chapter).
> 
> 2\. "Eine miesepetrige Spaßbremse", as Klaus said, is German and basically means "a grumpy party pooper". It's a pretty lame 'insult' and one rarely used tbh, but I found it fitting for the situation and I just wanted to play around a bit with Klaus speaking German, so here we are ;)
> 
> 3\. Next chapters are coming when I have time and motivation to write something short in between. There are some ideas for situations with Five and Klaus being super sweet and their siblings just being like "WTF?", but can't promise to be able to write those down in a certain amount of time. Still trying to get this going, though :)
> 
> 4\. Tell me if you liked it and maybe what situations between Klaus and Five you'd like to read. Not promising I will write it, but maybe it inspires me, so go ahead ^^


	2. A Lover, not a Fighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm a lover, not a fighter" is Klaus' motto and accordingly to that he fights like a flirty little shit, throwing his opponents off-guard with compliments, lewd innuendos and using his body in a very "creative" way to get an advantage.  
> Aka: The chapter in which Five loses almost gladly against Klaus in sparring, but beats up Diego's ass after that with ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was writing the Allison chapter (which originally was planned to be the second one), I got pestered with another idea and I just thought: "Well, since there are a few crazy people who actually seem to like this story, why not give them something short in between to read, since my Allison chapter is not quite finished yet?"  
> Well, apparently I'm shitty at writing "something short in between", so this got three times longer than planned, but hey! Also means you got more to read ;)  
> This is Diego's POV again, because it fits the best somehow (but don't worry, there will be other POVs later).
> 
> IMPORTANT: So far Klaus and Five are not together … yet ;) Though there are definitely feelings involved, as you may notice.  
> I just want to let their relationship evolve a bit, before actually bringing them together in later chapters. They're just so cute when crushing on one another without knowing how to handle shit (especially Five) ^^
> 
> And now have fun with the chapter (It was definitely one hell of a ride to write); Oh, and sexual undertones and innuendos in this one (just because of Klaus, let's be honest)

 

**_Diego's POV_ **

Reginald Hargreeves had a whole bunch of written and unwritten rules laid out for all of them, but one rule stood above everything else: _The succession of the mission is top priority._

With that in mind it wasn't any wonder they had to go through regular training sessions, both regarding their super powers and also physical training with each other. Strength, speed, endurance, dexterity, fighting techniques - those were the categories they were tested in.

And Reginald wouldn't be Reginald if he hadn't found a way to spice things up between them, "motivate” them to work even harder on themselves.  
With a ranking system: they were rated from 0 to 3 points in each of the five categories, winner of the sparring match got a bonus of 5 points (Formerly Reginald had even subtracted up to 3 points for bad performance in each category — he changed that rule after Klaus had reached unbelievable -100 points after just four training days).

***

Diego stared at the big score board in the training room, his eyes darkening when finding Luther's name in the familiar spot on the list: Right on fucking top, like a real Number One. Next to his name: a proud amount of 166 points and Diego clenched his teeth, hard, because right under Luther's name: _Diego, 158 points._ And what could be more frustrating than being so fucking close, yet still so far?

Who followed was Five with 141 points, then Allison with 112 points which were mostly won during training fights with Ben and Klaus, sometimes even with Luther, because as much as that brute loved to throw Diego around the room for days, he was a real sissy when Allison was the one in the ring with him.

Ben managed to crack the 100 point mark yesterday and Klaus came in last with 69 points - which wasn't all that bad, considering Klaus didn't really care about improving himself. Most of the points he earned were for his endurance, which was surprisingly well - perhaps sneaking out and partying all night, running home early in the morning to try not getting caught wasn't that much of a disadvantage after all - and a few points for … _'original and creative fighting techniques'_ \- and Diego didn't want to think further about that.

And speaking - or rather thinking - of the devil: Klaus stomped into the training room, black hair styled perfectly, eyes dark with eyeliner, tracksuit hanging loosely around his lanky frame, making him look even more fragile.  
Not fragile - or cautious - was the way he strolled up to him, patting his shoulders with a grin, even before Diego had the chance to dodge.  
_Maybe Klaus also got some points for speed._

"What's up, Diego boy? Ready for today's training session?"

Diego crinkled his nose, slightly irritated about Klaus' overly good mood, which made him look like he was high again. He probably was. It was Klaus they were talking about after all.  
Glancing up, he frowned in skepticism: "Are _you_ ready?"

"Oh brother, as usual I am almost certainly _not_ ," and there shouldn't be a reason to be so fucking happy about that circumstance, still Klaus grinned at him widely, before giving the score board a once-over.

"Oh, sooo close, yet so far…" he sighed theatrically and Diego wondered if his real power was in fact mind reading, because his brother just hit the mark with his words. "Isn't it frustrating to always almost be able to keep up with our Number One, but never quite managing to actually beat him?"  
It wasn't said in provocation, even sounding sincerely curious, but Diego was pissed off nonetheless.

"Shut up, Klaus," Diego growled angered, then adding in a hiss: "Better look at your own score!"

"Oh, I look," Klaus chanted, wiggling with his eyebrows, "and I _like_."

Sometimes Diego felt like he was an alien amongst his other siblings, an outcast within their ranks. And sometimes he just thought, Klaus was the one coming from another planet, sent to earth to irritate and confuse him with statements he couldn't comprehend. Like now.

"What's there to like? You're last place!"

Klaus chuckled, not the slightest bit irritated by Diego's response.  
"First, dearest brother, _the last shall be first_." Diego snorted unconvinced, but Klaus didn't let himself get worked up on this, instead continuing with his cheerful voice: "And secondly, I _reeeeally_ like the number 69. Oh, how I do, sinfully so. I think it's a really nice _position_ to be in, don't you think so, too? Doubles the fun."

And sometimes conversations with Klaus were a straight up clusterfuck.

"You high or something?" Diego asked back, not understanding why being last place would be considered a good position by anyone. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Diego," Klaus put his hands on his hips in a feigned disappointed and stern gesture. "My innuendo was _on point_ , so why don't you be a nice big brother for once and give me some credit, huh?"

Upon seeing Diego's still confused expression, Klaus' eyes widened in surprised amusement, looking round as car wheels with the dark eyeliner already making them pop out.

"Oh… _oh_ , Diego Diego Diego…"

And he didn't like the teasing tone, nor the mischievous grin spreading across the other's face as he let himself fall next to Diego on the bench, long arm slung around his shoulder - again, before Diego had any chance to dodge.

"My sweet-" Diego threw him a sulky glare, " _aaand_ grumpy and sooo, hah," Klaus put his free hand on his chest in delight, " _innocent_ brother. You're so… _unspoiled_ , it would be cute if you weren't such a party pooper all the time, Di!"

Diego felt his face heating up, both in anger and embarrassment. He hated not understanding what others were talking about. It made him feel dumb, stupid, like an outsider. And out of all his siblings, Klaus was the one who managed to make him feel like the biggest fool on earth, not getting the probably easiest things Klaus was rambling on about.  
Which was sad, because to be honest, Klaus was most fun to hang around with - even if he had that extravagant and flamboyant behavior that could drive him insane from time to time.

"Y-Y-You're talking nonsense!" Diego hissed, eyes averting Klaus' glance. He brushed his brother's arm off.

Didn't stop Klaus from continuing his teasing though.  
"Oh, Di. Don't be embarrassed! You came to the right place to learn about this stuff. If I may say so myself, I'm quite the expert in this house if it comes to this topic an-"

"I'm really not sure if I want to learn something _you're_ the self-proclaimed expert in," interrupted Diego mumbling, happy to hear the door of the training room being swung open and seeing Ben and Five coming to his rescue.

"Ow, that really hurt my feelings, Diego," Klaus exclaimed, giving him his best ' _sad, puppy eye_ '-look.  
Diego just rolled his eyes, greeting Ben and Five who stopped in front of them. They'd heard Klaus' words and Ben just shook his head with a small smile, asking: "What did you do now, Klaus?"

Five though, Five didn't seem to understand that Klaus was only _playing_ his victim role, because piercing blue eyes glared at Diego, gloomy and deadly and Diego crinkled his eyebrows in confusion, staring back at Five in defiance.

He only ever saw Five reacting that hostile if he was verbally attacked himself, not if one of his siblings was teased or annoyed by another. For those kind of quarrels he normally only got an arrogantly raised eyebrow to spare, before blinking away from this ' _useless pile of grouching kindergarten children_ '. Apparently Klaus didn't fall into this category lately, despite him behaving like the biggest child most of the times.  
It was confusing as hell, how Five seemed to change his personality when Klaus was around and Diego was completely at a loss.

"Diego is just too innocent to understand my brilliant joke about my current score," Klaus answered nonchalant, nodding toward the 69 next to his name, "It's a pretty nice _position_ to be in, right?"  
He looked at Ben and Five, expectantly.

Both brothers followed the nod, glancing at the scoreboard and Diego was glad to notice their own confusion.  
"What was the joke about?", Ben asked puzzled and even Five crinkled his forehead in question, waiting patiently for an explanation.

Klaus however blinked at their reactions in disbelief, right before falling into a fit of laughter. Swinging himself up from the bench he pulled his arms around them, Ben on his right, Five to his left.  
"You know, I first thought Diego here looked cute all confused and clueless, but you guys," he pulled them even closer against his slender frame, giving both of them an endearing smile, "you're just sooo adorable, my little brothers. All that sweet innocence, my heart is melting away."

"You're out of it, Klaus," Ben answered with an eye roll, yet a certain fondness in his voice. Then he freed himself from Klaus' arm, although more carefully than Diego did minutes ago.

"And you love me nonetheless, Ben, you know you do," Klaus countered, blowing a kiss his way. His grin turned into a triumphant one as Ben shook his head in amusement, but didn't disagree with Klaus' words.

"How come I'm the big brother for you and Ben and Five are the little ones?" Diego asked with a certain interest, remembering how Klaus had called him 'big brother' in their previous conversation.

"I'd actually like to know that, too," Ben agreed.

"This might come as a surprise, but for once I think Diego actually asked a useful and intelligent question," Five commented, looking up at Klaus in demand for an answer, giving a flying fuck about Diego's indignant glare.

"H-Hey, I always as-"

"No, you don't," and that little shit didn't even care to give him the courtesy of _looking_ at him when _interrupting_ him.

"It's pretty easy," Klaus rose to speak, clearly trying to stop their dispute from further escalating, "You're always so grumpy and serious, Di. Like an embittered big brother, who tries to be in control, but nobody actually listen to him."

And Klaus managed to hit the mark with this again, even if Diego didn't want to admit it.

"Benny," Klaus continued with a fond look toward Number Six, "You'll always be my little baby brother and this is a fact, no further explanation needed."

Ben opened his mouth in order to object, but Klaus shushed him, pointing a warning finger in the air. "Also no room for discussion on this one, Benny!"

Then, with a nod to Five who surprisingly still hadn't made a move to brush Klaus' arms off his shoulder, he said: "And this one here is just a cute, but feisty bundle of energy. And ' _cute, but feisty bundles of energy_ ' fall under the category ' _little brothers_ '."

"Yeah, completely logical, why didn't I come up with this before?" mumbled Diego ironically, but his words were drowned by Five's indignant exclaim: "I-I'm not c-cute!"

"At least you didn't deny the 'feisty, little gnome' part," Diego smirked provocative.

"Let me help _shutting you up_ ," Five made a move to jump at him, but Klaus held him back, pulling the smaller one into his arms and holding him there.

"Don't listen to our big bad brother, Five. He's only jealous, because you're way cuter than him."

"Yeah, sure…" Diego rolled his eyes.

"I said I'm not-"

"Oh, but you are," and Klaus gave him a heartwarming smile, the kind of smile most people couldn't really resist, even if they wanted to. Five's resistance died down, though he now crossed his arms in stubborn defiance, making Klaus chuckle even more. "Yeah, look at you now, all sulky," Klaus pinched Five's cheek, getting an indignant yelp as a response, before his hand was shoved away. "But so cute an-"

"I'll kick your ass if we're sparring today, Klaus. Just so you know," Five hissed lowly and he would have sounded pretty dangerous if it wasn't for the pink blush on his cheeks and the way he completely averted eye contact.

Klaus seemed to be alarmed nonetheless, loosening his grip around Five, green eyes darting to Diego in search for help.  
"Diego, I heard you want to spar with me today, right?"

"Nope, not gonna happen!"

"Why not?" Klaus whined. "I'm an easy opponent. Easy points, you know? Come oooon, Di!"

Diego shook his head, determined. It was true, Klaus was the one with the least fighting expertise or skill for sparring, but he was far away from an _easy opponent_.

Fights with Luther were predestined to be a battle of physical strength, endurance and well-timed attacks when the other was still recovering from a particularly hard hit or disoriented by a few quick attacks from different angles. It was a long, hard and tiring battle of the body, one that would make him feel every hurting bone and tense muscle, but also one he'll feel that satisfying exhaustion after.

Fights with Klaus though, they were on another scale of exhaustion. Diego might exceed Klaus on a physical level by far, but Klaus was rarely fighting with his fists to begin with. No, his weapon was his mouth and his tactic was to talk so much incoherent bullshit that your brain just can't comprehend all the information pouring down at you, so you start to get distracted and careless or get lured into making an incautious move, leading to stupid mistakes and eventually to loss of precious points.

It didn't help that Klaus - completely after his ' _I'm a lover, not a fighter_ '-motto - was basically a flirty fucking tease during the fights - even more than under normal circumstances - using compliments and lewd innuendos to throw him off-guard or using his own body in a sinful way in order to force Diego to move away, even if he should continue to pin him down for more points. Klaus really used his problem with too much physical contact to his advantage, made him lose more points than one might think.

So if today would be one of the rare occasions where Reginald gave them the chance to choose their sparring partner freely, he would gladly go with Luther or Five or basically everyone else than Klaus.

***

Today was not a 'rare occasion day' and this led to strange combinations, with which some of them were more content than others.

Diego, for once, couldn't be more satisfied with the arrangements for the first sparring session. Not just that he bet on an easy win with Ben as his partner, but also his biggest rival, Luther, was partnered up with Allison and that again was a safe guarantee Luther wasn't going to get as much points as usually, giving him a chance to finally come out on top of the ranking.

This left Klaus and Five to spar with each other and despite Five's announcement from before, Klaus didn't seem to be scared of fighting with him.

Diego glanced toward them doing the same stretching exercises as the rest of them. Five looked pretty bored by it after a few seconds, so he turned his head in Klaus' direction, talking with him about something Diego couldn't hear from this distance. It had to be something funny, because Klaus, standing on one foot right now, laughed loudly and lost his balance, just stopping himself from falling ungracefully to the ground by putting his arm on Five's shoulder in search of support. And Five? Well, apparently that little shit didn't feel the slightest need to blink away in rapid speed just at the mere touch of an arm on his shoulder. In contrary, he even allowed Klaus to keep his arm there for the rest of the stretches.

Diego snorted, still pissed about the incident at the interview a few weeks ago. He couldn't let his emotions control him now, though. He needed to stay composed and concentrated. He needed the points.

***

The fight against Ben was, as expected, considerably easy. Ben had a pretty good fighting technique, even some moves and combinations that had quality to be dangerous as fuck, but they all lacked the fierceness and _conviction_ in the execution. It was almost as if Ben would rather be pushed down to the ground and lose the fight than accidentally hurt his sparring partner with a move.

"You can hit back, you know?", Diego whispered after he had pinned the other one down the second time in less than two minutes. One more time and he'd win the fight and even if Diego was eager for the points, he felt a pang of guilt and pity for Ben.

"I can handle it, Ben," he added while pulling his sparring partner up again for the next and maybe last round.

They occupied their starting positions again and as Reginald gave the "Go", Ben shook his head, almost unrecognizable, a tormented smile on his face.

The last round didn't last more than half a minute and ended with Ben being pinned down once more.

"Good performance, Number Two," Reginald announced curtly, before his eyes pierced at Ben with a disapproving expression. "Very disappointing, Number Six. You will have to make better at your special training tomorrow, you hear me?"

"Y-yes, Sir," Ben stuttered, Reginald already focusing on the two other pairs still fighting.

Ben looked so small right now that Diego didn't ponder even a second about grabbing his arm carefully and pulling him away to the corner of the training room, sitting them both down on the bench.

He was no Klaus, no good with cheering somebody up or comforting his brother, still he laid his hand on Ben's shoulder, the same way he saw Klaus doing it when Ben was down.

They sat there for a few minutes, silently watching the others fighting, before Diego finally found the courage to raise his voice.

"Why didn't you fight back?" He asked quietly, carefully.

"Didn't want to hurt you," Ben mumbled, eyes downcast.

"But…I told you, I can handle it, Ben," he replied softly, "I can handle Luther, so I won't break if you actually use some of those moves you possess."

A shake of the head, a look up into his face and Diego bit his lip, strangely struck at the deep sadness in his brother's eyes.  
"You don't know that for sure," and Diego had a feeling this wasn't just about throwing a punch at him, this was about something else.

But before Diego had any chance to ask further, Reginald's voice pulled them out of their conversation.  
"Two, Six! You do not get to sit around here, even if your fight ended embarrassingly fast in contrast to your other siblings'." Another sharp glare at Ben, who let his shoulder hang even more. "We not only learn through practice, but also through observing and analyzing, so get over here. Number Six, watch Number One and Three. Number Two, you go observing Number Four and Five."

There was no place for objection against Reginald's orders, even if Diego wanted to continue his previous conversation with Ben.

***

How Diego expected the fight of Klaus and Five to go down: Klaus having his ass handed to him by Five in less than a few seconds into the fight.  
How reality looked like: Klaus getting his second point right at the moment he arrived at their sparring field, strangely tangled up with Five, one leg thrown over Five's middle from the side to somehow immobilize him and hands pressing Five's own ones down to the ground with massive exertion.

They provided a pretty ridiculous picture right now, one that was far away from any halfway professional fighting technique.  
Nonetheless, the rules were clear: Whoever pins his opponent's body and both his hands down to the ground - or immobilizes him to the extent where there was no way out - and holds him there for 10 seconds, wins the round. First one to win three rounds owns the fight.

"2, 1 - Finish!" Reginald exclaimed, "Round 4 goes to Number 4. Back into your start positions!"

They entangled themselves, Klaus taking more time than necessary and getting an admonishing glare from Reginald. They both looked pretty messed up, black hair sticking out wildly, sweaty, white training shirts clutching to their chests and breath coming out heavy and fast.

It was a bit of a surprise for Diego to be honest. He didn't reckon Klaus would actually put some effort in his fights for once - and then certainly not to the extent where he was sweating like crazy, his 'holy' eyeliner slightly smeared.  
He also didn't assume for Five to fight that poorly to lose rounds to Klaus.  
It gave Diego a strange feeling of satisfaction, seeing the oh-so-superior Five being put in his place for once. It would be even more satisfying, though, if he was the one doing it. Well, maybe later.

They both had taken place on their starting position again, Klaus tugging at his white shirt to get some air on his sweaty skin, although he did it with a certain provocative lasciviousness that forced Diego to avert his eyes, rather looking at Five, who seemed to be quite startled by Klaus' 'show' himself. Blue eyes wandered down to the exposed slice of wet skin between the shirt's hem and the blue training pants riding dangerously low on those slender hips. Then his eyes hastily flickered away. Five swallowed dryly and Diego observed his face, wondering if the red blush on Five's cheeks was really only due to the physical exercise.

"It stands 2 to 2. Next round decides the winner," Reginald voice echoed through the room, "Get yourself ready."

"Oh, I'm ready," Klaus chanted, fluttering his long eyelashes at Five, "Are you ready, my cute little brother?"

"Shut up, Klaus," Five growled, yet his face only got redder by the comment.

Klaus only laughed, gifting his opponent with a cheeky wink. Then he whispered lowly: "Make me, darling."

Diego was glad not to be in the ring with Klaus right now.

"Silence!" Reginald exclaimed, giving both of them a warning glare, "And now … Go!"

Five was the first to move, bridging the gap between them in rapid speed and hell - even if he didn't use his powers he was an extremely fast fighter, first hit meeting Klaus' shoulder, the second one hitting his arm, the third one striking the air though, as Klaus danced out of his reach and around him, surprisingly elegant, even giving Five a push in the process and making the other one stumble.

"This is a fight, Number Four! Not a dance," came Reginald's disapproving comment to Klaus' extravagant way of moving.

"That's a shame! I thought we're going to tango here," Klaus had the audacity to respond, stepping away from one of Five's attacks again, still moving like he was dancing, "I even prettied myself up for you, Five."

He blew a kiss to Five, before moving his hand forward to push him back again, clearly not wanting to use his fists. A mistake, because Five grabbed his arm effortlessly, turning Klaus around in a swift motion and pushing him to the ground, nailing him there with one knee on his lower back, hands on the other's shoulders, keeping him in place.  
Klaus wriggled under him, without real force, but with enough dexterity and skill for Five's knee to slip from his lower back down his side, rearranging Five to sit on top of him, knees on both sides of his waist.

"You like that position?" Klaus panted breathy, his grin audible from miles away even if he was facing the floor. He stretched his arms out, kept them off the ground to prevent the countdown from starting, while Five was leaning over him in order to get a grip of his hands.  
Without success. For once, Klaus lanky frame gave him an advantage, making it impossible for Five to reach his wrists while still pinning the rest of Klaus' body down.

"Just. Hold. Still. For. A. _Fucking_. Second," Five hissed through gritted teeth, also slightly out of breath, missing Klaus hands again and again - until the larger one suddenly ceased any resistance, even laying his hands onto the floor next to his face. "Your wish is my command, Five."

Five stared down at his opponent, dumb-founded for a second, blinking confused at the sudden capitulation, before snapping out of his daze and grasping Klaus' wrists in haste, holding them down.

_10_

Reginald began to count down and Diego to wonder what Klaus' ultimate plan was.

_9_

He could see Five's mouth moving close to Klaus' ear, whispering something to him.

_8_

He was rewarded with an amused laugh, turning into a mischievous smirk as Klaus suddenly began to buck his hips up against Five's in newfound spirit.

_7_

"S-Stop that," Five groaned alarmed, eyes narrowed in concentration while trying to stop Klaus from moving up against him.

_6_

Klaus answered with another chuckle, Five's sudden struggle to keep his composure only motivating him to push his hips further up against the body behind him in a more sinuous and sinful than actually useful motion, pulling a heavy breath from Five.

_5_

Five began to struggle visibly, face changing from concentration to shock to a horrified, wide-eyed expression in mere seconds, almost losing his balance on top of Klaus.

_4_  
  
"F-Fuck…" Five cursed, voice strained and with a desperate slur to it, face glowing red.  
He had completely given up on stopping Klaus' movements, now focused on pushing his own hips as far away from Klaus' butt as he could manage - which wasn't really possible in their current position.

_3_

"You _do_ like that position," Klaus breathed out, his tone a mix of surprised amusement and playful seduction. He launched into pressing his ass up once more —

  
_2_

— and Five jumped up in rapid speed as if he caught fire, breaking any body contact with his opponent, stumbling back a bit.

"The countdown isn't over yet, Number Five," Reginald warned him, scrutinizing glance directed at the situation at hand.

Five didn't care, breath falling heavy from his lips and face a deep shade of red, distracted enough by whatever was going through his mind to overlook Klaus reaching out his hand in a sneaky move.

He only noticed it when fingers grabbed his left ankle and jerked on it with force and then it was already too late - with a high-pitched yelp he fell flat on his back, disoriented and bewildered for a moment.  
Enough time for Klaus to swiftly push himself on top of the other one, straddling him, trapping Five's hands in his own, before they could cause any damage to his body. They struggled for a few seconds, Five almost throwing the other off with a powerful motion, but then Klaus pushed his hips further down, smirking through gritted teeth as Five eyes widened again, startled enough at the contact to lose the fight for power to Klaus.

Reginald began to count down again when Five's hands met the floor, his body pressed down by Klaus' light-weighted, yet lanky one. It looked bad for Five, despite him still trying to fight against the grip on his wrists, squirming vehemently under Klaus.  
The seconds, thought, they were ticking away.

Almost mesmerized Diego watched them, watched Five's struggle, the way Klaus pushed his body even closer into the other, pinning him down with his weight.  
„Gotcha, darling!” His voice sounded breathless, but affectionate, smiling down at Five in an endearing way, as if they weren't actually fighting right now.

And they weren't. Not anymore, because all of a sudden Five ceased all resistance, as if his body was automatically submitting to Klaus without his permission.  
They stared at each other, faces unnecessarily close and Klaus' lighthearted smile vanished a little bit, making room for the same strange expression Five showed since he had been pinned down by his brother.

"4…3…2…" Reginald further counted down, but they didn't seem to even notice - or care - about their father's words or the fight and even Diego averted his eyes in discomfort, feeling like he was watching something not meant for him to see. Something strangely…intimate.

"1 - Finish! Number 4 wins the fight. Now get up."

But Klaus didn't make a move to push himself off and Five wasn't exactly complaining, just continued gazing at Klaus as if he was spell-bound by something Diego couldn't see or understand.

"We don't have all day!", Reginald's voice thundered over them. "Number Four, Number Five! I said-"

"H-Huh, I-I heard you," Klaus answered in delay while finally letting go of Five's wrists, awkwardly pushing himself up. He was absent-minded, nearly stumbling over his own foot, scratching his head in a untypical nervous gesture.  
"Seems I've won, huh? Guess I swept you right off your feet with my irresistible charm," Klaus joked, but his voice didn't match his usual cocky and confident behavior. Instead he held his hand out to Five, hesitantly and with a strange shyness to it.

"Number Four…congratulations on your win. Even if your fighting style is unbecoming of a Hargreeves," Reginald began, the discontent of actually giving Klaus credit for anything clearly audible in his voice - not that Reginald was any better at praising any of his other children apart from Number One.  
"Number Five," he continued, strict glare at Five who looked like a downright mess, a never seen vulnerability in his features. He hastily pushed himself up now, ignoring both the presented hand and the hurt expression displaying on Klaus' face at Five's refusal, quickly turning his back to them.  
"Very disappointing. I thought better o—Number Five!"

And Five was gone, teleported himself out of the training room to god knows where.

"That will be 10 penalty points for disobedient behavior," Reginald announced, already scribbling down something in his book, "and another 10 penalty points for unauthorized usage of power." Then he looked up, focusing on Klaus for a moment. "Find Number Five and bring him back. We're not done with the training yet."

Klaus nodded, already rushing off to the exit.

"And hurry up," Reginald crinkled his lips in annoyance. "We don't have all day!"

***

They were gone for more than 20 minutes and whatever they had talked about so long, the conversation hadn't ended on a good note. Otherwise Five wouldn't blink into the training room, arms crossed and glare as if he was ready to kill someone.

He let Reginald's tirade rain down on him, keeping a straight face, only squeezing out a "Yes, Sir" at the end of his father's speech, corners of his mouth pulled up in an obvious false smile and everyone in this room knew he didn't give the slightest fuck about even one word his father said.

Klaus arrived a minute later and Diego almost didn't noticed him. His usually so giddy and noisy brother was quiet, deep in thoughts and looking a bit lost by himself and as he finally searched and found Five, trying to make eye contact, he was straight up ignored.

"What's going on between these two?" Diego whispered into the group of Allison, Ben and Luther standing next to him.

"I am not sure," Allison answered in thoughts, eyes darting back and forth between Klaus and Five.

"Huh? Between who?" Luther questioned blankly, causing Diego to roll his eyes at the other. Of course their oh-so-amazing leader wasn't aware of anything else than how to train and show off his muscles.

Even Allison ignored his question, rather addressing Ben: "You know what's up with these two?"

Ben just shook his head, slowly, a concerned frown on his forehead, before leaving them without a word. He walked up to Klaus, laying his hand on the other's arm. Ben was saying something and Klaus gave him a laugh, albeit a forced one, hand ruffling Ben's hair in an attempt to cover up that something clearly _wasn't_ okay with him.

Allison nudged his side, gaining Diego's attention again. She carefully nodded toward Five - who was now staring daggers at Ben's back, face an image of cold fury.

"The fuck?!" Diego exhaled, bewildered. "I never quite understood Five, but this is even strange for his arrogant ass, right?"

"I think there's something… _else_ going on," Allison mumbled more to herself and Diego hadn't any chance to ask what she meant by that, because Reginald rounded all of them up for the next fighting session.

***

Luther had already thrown Ben down to the ground twice as Klaus and Allison decided to prepare themselves for the sparring fight by complimenting each other's painted nails.

And Diego? Well, maybe Diego should have known better than to provoke an already pissed-off Five, but hell, he was still vindictive because of the interview incident and to be honest? A bit of humility would definitely suit that bratty, know-it-all bastard and Diego was dying to see him silent and meek for once.

"What's up, Five?" Diego smirked, getting himself ready on his start position, motivated to put his impudent brother in his place. They were waiting for Reginald to turn up at their sparring field and give his Go. "You look like someone stole your morning coffee."

"And you look like the one I have to beat up for it," hissed Five with a deadly glare, standing upright and with crossed arms, not even caring about getting into a fighting stance.  
It pissed Diego off, gave him the feeling Five wasn't taking him serious. Which probably was the truth. So the next words were aimed to anger his opponent the same amount.

"You're pretty confident, _little brother_ ," Diego emphasized the last words. "Didn't look too good for you when you were fighting Klaus, though. Expected from you to beat his ass, instead you got your ass handed to you."

"Well, I expected from you to be in possession of an at least partly functioning brain, but nope. There's just an empty black hole in there." His tone was sugar-sweet, but clenched teeth gave away his real emotions.

"And I expected you not falling for Klaus' usual shenanigans. Then again, maybe you liked being pinned down by him, who knows?" he shrugged his shoulders casually, using the first counter his mind came up with and not even a good one for all Diego knew.

Yet Five's reaction made him feel as if he made the best verbal attack in this century: His eyes widened for a second, then narrowed themselves to slits, the visible blush around his nose not matching the cold anger in his piercing blue eyes and his tone was dangerously low and quiet, like the sharp edge of a knife sliding over skin, feathery, but with a subtle, lethal threat to it. "You shut up, _now_ , or I'll make you shut up, _forever_."

"Wanna see you try, little Five."

"Oh, I'm gonna show you. _Gladly_ , you-"

"Enough with this nonsense!" Both of them stopped, eyes toward Reginald who gave them a strict look. "Concentration on the fight. Especially you, Number Five."

Diego grinned inwardly, Five bit his tongue to suppress a disobedient comment.  
There were no more words necessary. The glares they gave each other right before Reginald opened the fight were enough evidence to know they both were ready to kick the other one's ass.

***

There were in the fight for about two minutes now, both of them already panting heavy, blood ringing in their ears.  
Sparring with Five was almost like a mirror fight: They both focused on quick punches and counterattacks, both showed good footwork, both good on deflecting the other's attacks, though Five was rather dodging sideways to get behind him while Diego himself was rather leaning his upper body back to avoid the punch or blocking it completely with his own arms and tried using the motion to break the balance of his opponent.

By now Diego had used Five's sideway dodging to give him a hard and fast blow to the chin with his elbow, making him topple over and losing the first round pretty easy to him.  
Unfortunately this only seemed to further fuel his opponent's fighting spirit and rage, because he got his ass kicked the next two rounds, leaving him in dire need to win this one.  
Still, he couldn't hold himself back from further provoking his opponent, hoping to lure him into making a grave mistake.

"Already tired, Five?" Diego smirked, as he dodged a particular hard, yet slightly imprecise uppercut.  
"Then why don't you," he used his left foot to kick the other, "lay down for a bit?"

The answer was a pained growl, the force of his kick bringing Five to the ground, but of course the little shit converted the fall to a swift backwards roll, already halfway on his feet again.  
He stopped on the spot for a millisecond, his eyes darkened with an unknown rage in them.

"You wanna talk or fight, _Two_?"

And it almost seemed as if he was cheating, rapidly sprinting toward him and the punch against his chest hit fucking hard, pushed the air out of his lungs and made him stumble back, writhing in sudden pain.  
"Doesn't matter apparently," and with unexpected strength Five took his arm and shoulder, throwing him to the ground, face forward, and Diego cursed due to the sharp pain as his chest met the hard floor with full force. He should have seen that move coming. He didn't.  
His attempt to wriggle himself free from Five's grip was useless. His arm was twisted on his back and Five buried his knee forcefully into his lower back, making him hiss through clenched teeth.

"Either way you're unarmed, peabrain." The sardonic voice was close to his ear, making him even more furious.

"Guess Klaus was right. You like that posit—Ah, _fuck_!"

His arm was pulled further up, twisted in a painful and dangerous angle. There was not much room for motion left, otherwise his arm would break.

"Give up now and I'll make it… _less_ painful for you," Five whispered lowly in his ear, not even trying to suppress the conceited tone resonating in his voice.  
  
"Or maybe I just use Klaus' tactic for once," Diego retorts, his hips moving threatening as far as the knee on his lower back allowed it, "As you seem pretty susceptible to it."  
He remembered how fast Five had given up the opportunity to win after Klaus had started with his usual shenanigans. Of course Diego himself was only bluffing, Klaus' 'fighting tactic' way too…embarrassing and intimate for him to actually execute, but maybe it would make Five nervous enough to give him some window of opportunity to get out of this inconvenient situation and turn the tables.

"Oh, do as you want, _Diego_ ," and the arrogant laugh wasn't the desired response. "And maybe I'm so susceptible to it, you accidentally make my hand slip and make me break your arm in the process."

"Y-Y-You can't! That's against the rules!" Diego hissed back, eyes widened. They were pressured into training hard, resulting in some bruises or a swollen lip or strained muscles, but broken bones were a different thing, because it would jeopardize the succession of a mission if one of them was seriously injured.

"Accidents happen." So sugar-sweet, but all the more menacing.

"You little-Ah!" His arm was twisted a tiny bit more, making his muscles hurt painfully at the stretch, "S-S-Stop!"

"You give up?"

" _Fuck_ , okay okay! Goddamn!" And with clenched teeth he tapped against the floor with his free hand a few times, "voluntarily" giving up the round to Five.

"Good boy," he heard Five snicker and Diego growled angry, drawing his head away from the disrespecting hand patting his hair for a second before he was released.

"I'm gonna get you for this," he snapped at Five while pushing himself up, stretching and rubbing his arm carefully with a pained groan.  
The only response he got was a last arrogant smirk before Five turned away from him, leaving him to Reginald's disapproving look and Luther's pretentious smile as he managed to stay on top of the ranking, despite his first, rather mediocre fight against Allison.

No need to say that Diego's day was pretty much over after that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Question Time!  
> Question: Why does Five lose the fight to Klaus?  
> A) he's too distracted by Klaus' flirt offensive  
> B) he doesn't want to hurt Klaus, so he's just using a fraction of his fighting skills  
> C) he wants to help Klaus winning some points to both boost Klaus' self-confidence and to get Reginald to actually value Klaus  
> D) he kinda likes being pinned down by Klaus (my favorite by far!)  
> Choose whatever reason you like the most ^^ (for me, it's a bit of all those reasons combined that led to this fight outcome)
> 
> 2) Of course Klaus likes his 69 points and of course he totally thinks about something entirely else and of fucking course Diego, Ben and Five don't catch onto Klaus' insinuations.  
> Who else loves a cheeky Klaus joking around with clueless, confused Diego, Ben and Five? 
> 
> 3) Let's be honest, Ben is just too precious and fears he could accidentally hurt his sparring partner (also because he has that power he thinks makes him a „monster”), so he's rather losing the fights instead of fighting back.
> 
> 4) It was taking me ages to write the fighting scenes of Klaus/Five and Five/Diego and a long ass time correcting and changing stuff around till I was finally halfway satisfied with how it turned out. Don't know, just tell me what you think about those scenes, I guess?
> 
> 5) For all of you who are asking themselves what the hell happened when Klaus was searching Five and why Five's so pissed, don't worry. I have planned a little bonus chapter to give an answer to this exact question :)
> 
> 6) If you want, leave a comment, tell me what you liked - personally I had the most fun writing the first conversation between Diego, Klaus, Ben and Five and the Klaus/Five-fight (even if this scene was somehow a pain in the ass to write) - if you liked the little Ben & Diego moment, if you want more of flamboyantly, teasing Klaus making (sexual) innuendos nobody understands or whatever you like to tell me in the comment section ^^
> 
> See you (hopefully) soon :)


End file.
